Mystery of an Abandoned Husain

A former minister in Kerala is responsible but no one knows who

The day after MF Husain died, people in Kerala woke up to the news that one of his paintings had been found abandoned in the backyard of the Secretariat, the seat of  the state government in Thiruvananthapuram. The photograph of it lying in the open, propped against a wall appeared in Mathrubhumi, the second largest newspaper in the state. Since then, the mystery of how it reached there, whether it is an original and who is responsible has continued to flummox everyone.

“I noticed the painting abandoned near the car porch when I went to meet a friend,” says Rajan Pothuwal, photo editor of Mathrubhumi. His photograph caused widespread anger. The cultural minister’s office was deluged with phone calls. The Director General of Police ordered immediate action and cops were asked to take the painting into safe custody. KC Joseph, culture minister, told Open that he has given immediate instructions to put up the painting in his chamber.

But neither he nor anyone else can explain how the painting turned up in the backyard. Pothuwal was told by the Secretariat’s security staffers that the painting was removed from an ex-minister’s chamber but they don’t know whose.

Manoj Joshi, Secretary of Public Administration, says the painting was removed from the chamber of the ex-minister for power, AK Balan. Balan denies this. “There was a photograph of Mahatma Gandhi in my room, which was the only wall decoration I had,” he says. A senior IAS officer says he has seen the painting in the ex-finance minister Dr Thomas Isaac’s chamber. Isaac denies it. Joseph, the cultural minister, does not know which minister’s room it belonged to. “I have asked for a report from the cultural affairs secretary,” he says.

Both Joseph and Manoj Joshi say that it is not an original painting, but a reprint. It is routine procedure in Kerala to remove all office goods when a new minister comes in, but Husain’s death has turned it into a sensitive issue.  “One thing is for sure. It was taken off from some minister’s chamber. Whoever he is cannot escape responsibility,” says Joseph.

About The Author

Shahina KK